The Living Potential: Could We Settle in Blenheim, New Zealand?

Exploring Blenheim & Wellington: New Year's Eve in New Zealand | We Should Move Here Travels Podcast

Join hosts Brittany and Josh on the 'We Should Move Here Travels' podcast as they recount their New Year's Eve celebrations in Wellington, New Zealand, and their memorable time in Blenheim. In Wellington, they enjoyed a rooftop bar experience complete with fireworks and good company. They then traveled to Blenheim, where they embarked on a Cloudy Bay vineyard tour, tasted world-class wines, and indulged in delicious meals. The episode also includes a discussion on the livability aspects of Blenheim, comparing it to other potential move destinations. Perfect for travelers looking for tips and insight into these New Zealand destinations!

00:00 Introduction and Hosts

00:19 New Year's Eve in Wellington

02:52 Exploring Wellington

06:55 Arrival in Blenheim

08:13 Cloudy Bay Vineyard Tour

12:17 Lunch at Saku

16:11 Exploring Blenheim

21:05 Wine Tasting Adventures

29:47 Reflecting on Travel Experiences

30:40 Coffee Culture in New Zealand

33:35 Exploring Food Spots

34:58 Public House Dining Experience

36:15 Navigating Travel Conversations

40:49 Blenheim: A Walkable Town

42:46 Affordability and Livability in Blenheim

48:17 Comparing Blenheim and Portree

51:33 Top Travel Destinations

55:03 Concluding Thoughts and Next Episode Preview

@WSMHtravels

Transcript

brit 0:11

Hello and welcome to the We Should Move Here Travels podcast. My name is Brittany.

josh 0:17

And I'm Josh

brit 0:18

and we are your hosts. Today we are gonna continue talking about New Zealand where we spent New Year's Eve and we will talk about where we spent that in this episode. And we will also talk about Blenheim.

josh 0:31

Yeah, really exciting. Uh, 24 hours in Wellington for New Year's, and then Blenheim was amazing as well, so I'm excited to talk about those.

brit 0:42

Yeah. So first, Wellington was amazing. I loved spending New Year's there.

josh 0:50

Mm-hmm.

brit 0:51

I particularly really loved where we spent it because we were on a rooftop bar all night. We ate there, we stayed there so we could save our table. Well, we actually table hopped a little bit, which was kind of fun. But we ended up at like the perfect table at the end of the night, and we danced and we laughed, and we just had such a good time.

josh 1:14

Yeah, we sure did. Yeah. You had found this place, uh, what's it called? The

brit 1:20

dirty little secret.

josh 1:21

Dirty little secret. A rooftop bar in Wellington. Close enough to the water where we could see the fireworks go off at midnight. A as well as, I think like eight 30 when they have the kids' fireworks go off. Yeah. So that was cool to see as well. But, uh, yeah, so you booked a table for us and we were able to have that and then hop to a few others before we got one right by the railing essentially. Mm-hmm. So when it came to midnight, we were. Right there for the firework show.

brit 1:51

Yeah. That was so fun. And it was such a vibe there. Mm-hmm. Like we were dancing all night.

josh 1:57

Yeah.

brit 1:57

They did play like a lot of the same songs. And I wouldn't say that the set list was totally like up to date. Mm-hmm. It was a lot of like early two thousands and, you know, but that's also our jam.

josh 2:11

Oh yeah. I loved it. I thought it was awesome. I was all for it.

brit 2:15

Yeah.

josh 2:16

They had some good food, some really good drinks, and we talked to some people while we were there and hung out with a few people. There was a guy who was a table across from us at one point who had a Green Bay Packers hat on.

brit 2:31

Yeah.

josh 2:32

He said he just liked the hat, didn't know anything about the Green Bay Packers, I don't think he said. But, uh, it was fun to meet and talk to some people.

brit 2:40

We actually ran into that guy again the day after when we were crossing the street. He was crossing the opposite way and we were like, Hey,

josh 2:47

he had a different hat on in that point, but we recognized him.

brit 2:50

Yeah. But overall, it was a really fun night. Wellington was a good choice. Looking back, I do think that we could have also had a lot of fun, if we stayed in Queenstown for one more night or if we would have went straight to Blenheim. I don't know that Wellington was fully worth it to me just vibes wise. Mm-hmm. But I loved that rooftop bar.

josh 3:14

Yeah, for sure. Totally agree. The 20, it was literally 24 hours we got into Wellington

brit 3:22

Yeah.

josh 3:22

And then almost immediately after getting ready, went to the rooftop bar and then spent the night there until just after midnight.

brit 3:32

Mm-hmm.

josh 3:32

Immediately walked to the hotel, went to bed, woke up. And just hung out for, six hours, I think it was in Wellington.

brit 3:41

Yeah.

josh 3:42

So it was a very quick day there in Wellington.

brit 3:46

It was. But like I said, it was a lot of fun.

josh 3:50

Mm-hmm.

brit 3:50

We, we had a great time. So,

josh 3:52

yeah. But I, I would agree with you. I think maybe if we had just used that day as a full travel day and went to Blenheim right away, that might've been more beneficial because of how much we ended up really liking Blenheim.

brit 4:07

Oh. We loved Blenheim. Mm-hmm.

josh 4:10

And we really didn't get enough time in Wellington to truly appreciate it. We spent, you know, 24 hours there and it felt like a traditional big city to us.

brit 4:22

Yeah.

josh 4:23

And it just wasn't our jam. I mean, we got to spend a little time on Cuba Street, which was fun. Mm-hmm. We went to, I believe it's. A well-known, or, uh, maybe it went viral. Another place you had booked or looked into origami.

brit 4:39

Oh, that was so delicious.

josh 4:41

Mm-hmm.

brit 4:42

You got a crab salad there. That was amazing.

josh 4:46

Yes.

brit 4:46

It had like crispy crab pieces on top. Oh, that was so good.

josh 4:51

And we had uh, gyoza Some coffees fresh fish again.

brit 4:57

Yeah. It was all really, really delicious. I am so glad that we went there.'cause that was a place that I was actually, I saw, um, on social media and I was like, I would like to check this place out while we're here.

josh 5:11

Yeah.

brit 5:14

So I'm glad we did. They also had a really good dessert there. It was like a strawberry shortcake. Mm-hmm. But it was so beautiful.

josh 5:21

Yeah. And

brit 5:22

the strawberries were really fresh. So that was good.

josh 5:26

Because we only spent the 24 hours there. We really only have those two places.

brit 5:32

Mm-hmm.

josh 5:33

Yeah. The rooftop bar and then origami. Are really the only places we went and that we could recommend, otherwise we spent the other time just walking around by the water. Looking out. They have this. Kind of statue or art installation that's similar to the Bean in Chicago, Illinois that we saw. Rode round on electric scooters a little bit just to see as much as we could as a group and then headed to Blenheim.

brit 6:01

And that was like a 20 minute plane ride. May maybe. It was very short. But I remember there being a lot of turbulence and it was a small plane. Mm-hmm. It was the first prop plane that I've ever been in. different experience. I think there was definitely turbulence and I was like, whoa.

josh 6:22

Mm-hmm.

brit 6:22

And we were towards the back too, and it was, it's a small plane, so

josh 6:25

Right. You

brit 6:26

feel it a little more.

josh 6:27

a lot of people told us that Wellington is one of the windiest cities.

brit 6:32

Yeah.

josh 6:33

In New Zealand and probably in the world. I don't know if that's true, but people were like, Wellington's. Breezy. Mm-hmm. And it sure was in that plane ride for the whole 20 minutes. Like you said, we got up and we were being jostled around. I was even squeezing your hand and had my eyes closed. This doesn't feel great. I don't like this. but yeah, so we. Got to Blenheim right away, checked into our hotel. Your mom being with us on this trip, she was really tired.'cause we had stayed up past midnight the night before and then had that really bumpy ride. So she, she laid down and you and me, we went and walked along this river path, which was super nice. It was a beautiful day. And we ran into this restaurant called Repou.

brit 7:20

Oh my gosh. It was delicious. Mm-hmm. Their risotto was amazing. You got the chicken? With the cheese risotto and I got salmon with I think mushroom risotto and the salmon was incredible. I almost didn't wanna share. Like I said, it is a common theme. I like a good salmon. And in New Zealand they have great salmon everywhere, so

josh 7:43

yeah.

brit 7:43

you might hear that a couple more times, but the salmon was so good.

josh 7:48

You're definitely gonna hear it more. And if you listen to our last one, you heard it a few times, so it is what it is. New Zealand has great fresh seafood, great fresh fish. It's a great place for that. Absolutely. And we discussed in last episode, it's up there with Japan, not quite on that same level, but it's up there.

brit 8:11

Yeah. Mm-hmm. It's pretty freaking good. Yeah. So then the day after that we had went on a cloudy bay tour.

josh 8:19

Mm-hmm.

brit 8:19

so Cloudy Bay is a vineyard that is pretty well known.

josh 8:25

Mm-hmm.

brit 8:25

Um, they said they're about like a medium sized vineyard. in the Marlborough region.

josh 8:31

Yeah,

brit 8:31

so they were about 20 minutes away from our hotel and we got a taxi there the morning of though we had ordered an Uber and this Uber did not show up, so we were like, fuck

josh 8:46

yeah. I had booked this the night before to make sure that we got there in time.'cause the tour started at nine 30. It was a first taste tour. Like you said, cloudy bay, medium-sized, but popular especially for you and your mom. Mm-hmm. Love Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc. So I booked ahead time, like, we're not gonna miss this. And Uber just didn't come. It was verified and everything. Uber didn't come. So maybe that's a travel tip. If there are fewer than three Ubers available in a fairly spread out large city, maybe just go with a local taxi group.

brit 9:24

Do a taxi. Yeah. Yeah. It wasn't worth the stress of that morning. No. But we ended up getting there just fine. Mm-hmm. And with more than enough time to spare. So, on the tour they took us around to all of the different vineyards where they produce their grapes.

josh 9:40

Mm-hmm.

brit 9:41

We got to ride in this old school kind of Jeep thing. Oh my gosh, that thing was so fun.

josh 9:51

They had a name for it. I can't remember. They had named it.

brit 9:54

Oh, they did?

josh 9:56

Oh, I feel bad. I can't remember the name of it.

brit 9:58

Is it Pete? No.

josh 9:59

No, but it's a, it's like an older Land Rover. A Range Rover. We'll have a picture up in, in this spot, but it's actually a really neat little car and like you said, took us to all the different vineyards, explained the grapes, explained the different workers that they hire from not only New Zealand but around the world.

brit 10:21

Mm-hmm.

josh 10:22

For special reasons and. It was just a really informative, great experience. I thought

brit 10:27

It was amazing. It was such a good experience. I would definitely recommend that tour. That was probably one of the best tours we have ever taken. It was so great. Yeah. And then after that tour, so after they took us around to the vineyards and kind of explained all of that, they took us back to the tasting room and we got some tasting of different wines. We ended up buying quite a bit of wine and shipping it home.

josh 10:56

Yes.

brit 10:56

well, There are two bottles that we had tasted that we were like. Wow, this is incredible. And you can't get it here. So we were like, we're gonna get two bottles of this one and one bottle of the other.

josh 11:11

We, we all spent a little bit of money on wine, but like you said, very good wine. Yeah. And we were, I was especially surprised because the, not only the Sauvignon Blanc, which was great, but their reserve, Sauvignon Blanc, the Te Koko

brit 11:30

mm-hmm.

josh 11:30

I believe was absolutely fantastic. One of the best wines I've ever had. And then their pinot noir, the,

brit 11:41

the reserve of the Pinot Noir,

josh 11:43

was it Te Wahi?

brit 11:45

Yeah, something like that.

josh 11:46

I'm pretty sure it's Te Wahi, but it's the Cloudy Bay Pinot Noir Reserve. Was fantastic. Again, one of the best wines I have ever tasted. And you and me, we've traveled quite a bit and tasted quite a few wines. We're not wine experts, but these were high, high end, high level. Yeah, for sure.

brit 12:05

These were fantastic. And we actually got more wine after, at lunch, so we got a bottle of each of those Yes. At lunch as well and mm-hmm. Um, that lunch is, we had talked previously that we were taking my mom out to lunch for one of her Christmas presents. And so this was that lunch and it was so spectacular. It was an amazing lunch. It was at Saku. Mm-hmm. Which is a restaurant that just opened up. Right next to the cloudy bay tasting room.

josh 12:39

Mm-hmm.

brit 12:39

It was so, so delicious. They had fresh salmon, fresh red snapper. Mm-hmm. So much good fish. And then we also got the Wagyu beef.

josh 12:51

Mm-hmm.

brit 12:52

So amazing.

josh 12:53

Yeah. Yeah. I'm looking at it right now and my mouth is watering again, because

brit 12:58

mine too.

josh 12:59

These dishes were absolutely fantastic.

brit 13:03

Mm-hmm.

josh 13:03

I think it's safe for me to say that it was the best meal that we had on this trip. As a whole from drinks, obviously, like you said, we ordered a bottle of each of the Te Koko and the Te Wahi, so we had that during the lunch and. Then just everything from the edamame to the red snapper, like you said, the wagu beef, the salmon, it was fantastic. And then the desserts.

brit 13:33

Mm

josh 13:34

oh, the one that I love, it might have been my favorite dessert throughout the whole trip. Wow. Was a matcha ice cream with a espresso pour over.

brit 13:46

Yes.

josh 13:47

Oh, it was amazing. Delicious. but the, the lunch as a whole was fantastic. Great vibes.

brit 13:54

we also got another dessert. It was like a tangerine with cream. Mm-hmm. Kind of dessert. And that was also amazing. The whole meal was just incredible.

josh 14:05

Yeah.

brit 14:06

I would highly recommend it wasn't cheap by any means.

josh 14:10

No, definitely not.

brit 14:11

this was a, a really special meal, so, we kind of splurged a little bit on this one.

josh 14:17

Yeah, absolutely. And part of that was the wine and it's not

brit 14:22

Yeah, oh yeah.

josh 14:24

It's not owned by Cloudy Bay, but they are on the property, like you said, right by the wine tasting room. So I believe you can go there with your own Saku reservation that you can make online and, you know, you don't have to get wine. And the meal is still delicious. I thought it was really funny. During the lunch, we were sitting there talking about the meal, having a great time, and I accidentally bumped my wine glass and it spilled a little bit, but it spilled right into the saucer plate that was in front of me. And the bottle of Te Wahi, I hope I'm saying that right. The Reserve Pinot Noir, I think is almost a hundred dollars a bottle of us.

brit 15:10

Yeah.

josh 15:11

And so that's what I bumped and spilled a, you know, a quarter glass of it into my saucer. And right away in my head I was like, this is you.$5 worth of wine. The waitress

brit 15:25

at least. Yeah. Oh my gosh.

josh 15:26

The waitress saw she came over to take it right away. I was like, no, no, no. I'm drinking this, so I, I lifted up and I drank it'cause I wasn't gonna waste it. You don't waste that good wine like that.

brit 15:37

Yeah. We also have a video of that I will post in here. Yeah. But it was all really fun. It was a really fun day too. Mm-hmm. We spent the whole rest of the day just lounging in the little like beanbag chairs that they have and they have, little bean shaped, swinging chairs that you can get in that are right by the vineyard. And it was just an amazing day. We had so much fun. We drank too much wine, I will say that day. But it was fun. It was a lot of fun.

josh 16:11

You took some fantastic photos from. They're like lounge area outside by the vineyards with our new camera that we got.

brit 16:22

Yeah,

josh 16:22

we went through'em just the other day before we started recording the Queenstown episode. And some of those are fantastic, I'm sure. Thank you. If Cloudy Bay got ahold of a couple of those, they would want to use them as some promotional or on in their tasting room wall.'cause they are fantastic. You did an amazing job.

brit 16:42

thank you.

josh 16:44

But that little outdoor area, we spent a lot of time out there too. And.

brit 16:49

Yeah, we spend too much time out there. We were just giggling away out there.

josh 16:54

But it's so comfortable, like you said, with those beanbag chairs. And we had a perfect day. We could not have picked a better day to be out there.

brit 17:03

No, the weather was amazing. It was perfect. And we found a spot right in the shade. And my mom, this is her favorite wine. Mm-hmm. And it has been her favorite wine for years. Yeah. So she was so happy, and it was so fun to be there with her.

josh 17:21

I was so happy that she had gotten through the bungee jumping aspect of our trip that we had done in Queenstown. Again in our previous episode. We talked about that. So give that a listen, but then just to again, come to a place. One of her favorites, probably another bucket list to come to. Her favorite winery, favorite vineyard in the world.

brit 17:41

Yeah.

josh 17:41

So I was really happy for her that she got through that and I was so happy to be there as well. It was, It was amazing. I get, I definitely have a greater appreciation for Cloudy Bay Wine for sure.

brit 17:51

Yeah, me too. We were thinking like it, we're probably gonna find another Souvignon blanc that we like even more. But here's the thing, this wine tour, and we did several others

josh 18:01

mm-hmm.

brit 18:02

In this area, but this one specifically made me appreciate Cloudy Bay more than I ever have before.

josh 18:09

Oh, absolutely.

brit 18:09

And I think that there's no competition and for any other wine really in the world for me now.

josh 18:19

Really?

brit 18:20

Yeah. I mean, I, oh, I'm so in love with Cloudy Bay Wine. It is. It's indescribable. Like I can't, I can't describe it. It's so delicious. it's good wine. Mm-hmm. And you know where it comes from. Mm-hmm. And the people there were so great. It's something that my mom and I share, something that you and I now share and I just loved it. Nothing is gonna top that.

josh 18:47

Yeah. And on the first taste tour, we learned about. A MW.

brit 18:53

it stands for Appalachian Marlborough Wine. And on the back of the bottles, sometimes it's on the front of some bottles, but you look for the A MW logo and that is how you know that the Marlborough wine is actually from the Marlborough region. Mm-hmm. Because some of these, big companies will take some of the grapes from this region, but they only need what, like five or 10% of the grapes?

josh 19:20

A low percentage. Yeah.

brit 19:21

So it's really not authentic, true Marlborough wine. Mm-hmm. Whereas if you find a A MW logo on the wine bottle, then you'll know that it's from that region. Yep.

josh 19:35

Yeah. And that, and that's a cool thing'cause we were talking about some other ones that we liked from the region. And on the first Taste tour, the uh, woman taking her around was like, ah, that's not a MW. You know, that's one of the bigger brands. Mm-hmm. And I think we were talking about the Kirkland Costco brand and that's where she really, she was like, yeah. You know, those big ones. That's not true. Sauvignon Blanc, which hurts'cause we love Costco and that wine is pretty good, but it's not a MW.

brit 20:07

Yeah. We're gonna have to be looking for that now. And all of the ones that we've drank, like, we'll have to look for it.

josh 20:13

Yeah. But it's cool that they have a group like that so they can differentiate themselves from the big brands

brit 20:19

Yeah.

josh 20:20

And get recognition.

brit 20:21

Yeah. Kind of like on the Prosecco. Mm-hmm. Labels. Like on the top, the DOC label is how, you know it's from. Italy.

josh 20:29

Yeah. And like you had just mentioned, I thought for sure, and I think you maybe thought with us also doing the day after, uh, another wine tour that took us around to different wineries not Cloudy Bay, that I thought for sure you guys might find a Sauvignon Blanc that you like more than Cloudy Bay.

brit 20:50

Yeah. I thought we might have as well. Mm-hmm. But Cloudy Bay just stands above everyone else like it. Mm-hmm. There was no comparison to me. Like there was definitely some good wine that we had. Mm-hmm. Don't get me wrong, but it wasn't Cloudy Bay.

josh 21:05

No. And it was another great tour. Took us around to I think like five or six different wineries.

brit 21:12

Mm-hmm.

josh 21:12

Got to learn more about. Making wine and what's in the region, what goes into it, different kinds of wines that they make there as well.

brit 21:21

Yeah. We went to this one vineyard that had its vines growing up, almost like a tent.

josh 21:30

Mm-hmm.

brit 21:30

Above you. Mm-hmm.

josh 21:32

If

brit 21:32

you like walked in it. It was so cool. Mm-hmm. I got a picture of my mom that I just love. I love this picture of her'cause she looks so happy, but also just the surrounding area is so cool. So I'll post that in here. But it just looks really incredible. It's like a canopy of grape vines and grape trees. Just really unique.

josh 21:55

Mm-hmm.

brit 21:56

I've never seen anything like it.

josh 21:57

No. It is such a beautiful, cool area and. One of the more well-known places that we went to on that wine tour was, uh, St. Clair's.

brit 22:09

Yes.

josh 22:10

And they had delicious wines. They actually get more recognition worldwide and more awards in competitions than Cloudy Bay does. But both you and your mom Nope. Cloudy Bay is it? And like it's all taste. So everyone's got, you know, their favorites, what they like better. And I happen to agree. I thought Cloudy Bay was better than St. Clair's. St. Clair's was no doubt, delicious. But

brit 22:37

yeah,

josh 22:38

cloudy Bay was better. What St. Clair's did have though was also, uh, really good food.

brit 22:44

They had a great restaurant as well. I got the fish of the day. Mm-hmm. Which I don't remember what the kind of fish it was. And then there was a, was it a Pork Asian salad?

josh 22:56

Yes.

brit 22:56

And what was the other dish?

josh 22:58

Uh, beef and potatoes.

brit 23:00

Beef and potatoes.

josh 23:01

Mm-hmm.

brit 23:02

All of it was really delicious. And the scenery here was also really beautiful because the vineyard was right there, there's mountains around. And the first place that we went to as well, it was stunning. Mm-hmm. There, there were mountains in the background and the vineyard, and we actually tasted inside in that place. What was the name of that place? Lawson's Dry Hills.

josh 23:28

Yes.

brit 23:29

That was the first place. Mm-hmm. And just the scenery around was absolutely gorgeous. I took some pictures here that I absolutely love too,

josh 23:38

I think we might as well go ahead and rank our access to scenery and nature right away. So we we're going through it. So what would you rate it out? A 10.

brit 23:49

10.

josh 23:49

Yeah.

brit 23:50

Yeah.

josh 23:51

Very similar to Queenstown, where you are in this valley. A a bigger valley'cause of all the vineyards and everything around it, but then there is grassy mountains all around you. Mm-hmm. Not with trees and a lot of greenery, vegetation like it is in Queenstown. But brown grass, mountains. And it is stunning.

brit 24:14

It's so gorgeous. And there's vineyards everywhere.

josh 24:18

Mm-hmm.

brit 24:19

I mean, there's so many vineyards. Yeah. I would, I don't know how many, but it looks like when you're flying into Blenheim mm-hmm. It looks like there are thousands.

josh 24:30

Yeah.

brit 24:30

It is packed full of grapevines. Mm-hmm. You're looking down and you're like, holy shit. That is all vineyards.

josh 24:39

Yeah.

brit 24:39

Like just miles and miles and miles of vineyards.

josh 24:43

Mm-hmm.

brit 24:43

It's crazy.

josh 24:44

It's crazy. Awesome. It's so cool.

brit 24:47

It's so cool. Yeah.

josh 24:48

And yeah, so beautiful. It is most definitely a 10 out of 10 for access to scenery. Mm-hmm. Because again, we took a walk through a park in the middle of Blenheim mm-hmm. That had a stream going through it and, it had a golf course right next to it and plenty of wild flowers and flower beds that were planted there and just so clean. Again, the water was.

brit 25:17

Oh, crystal clear. It was crystal

josh 25:20

clear.

brit 25:20

This park was so beautiful. Mm-hmm. I mean, I have not seen a public park this beautiful ever mm-hmm. In my entire life. Like, it was so gorgeous.

josh 25:31

Yeah.

brit 25:31

And you could see all of the moss and greenery that's in the water.

josh 25:37

Yeah.

brit 25:38

Like, it's so clear.

josh 25:40

Yeah.

brit 25:40

Ugh.

josh 25:41

Yeah. Just everywhere. We walked in one round and Blenheim was stunning. And Blenheim as a whole was such a small, but seemed like a very like, livable community.

brit 25:56

It did

josh 25:56

It was it felt like people's homes, which is like a ridiculous thing to say, but you often go to places as tourists.

brit 26:05

Mm-hmm. Where.

josh 26:08

It's, It's catered to tourism, it's mm-hmm. More often. Not like a bigger city with apartment buildings and stuff like that. No. This was almost exclusively like small homes, small single family homes, maybe some duplexes, maybe a couple apartment buildings, but really not too many of that. And it just, it seemed like a small family community.

brit 26:29

Yeah. It really did. So that makes me bigg the question. Did you get the feeling there?

josh 26:35

I did a little bit.

brit 26:37

You did?

josh 26:37

I I did. A little bit, yes. It

brit 26:40

a little bit. Okay.

josh 26:41

Because it's still. It was so quiet. Like we took some walks through downtown Blenheim, if that's even what you can call it.

brit 26:50

Yeah.

josh 26:51

But there it was kind of the shopping district with some coffee shops, which they had some pretty good coffee and some restaurants, stuff like that. And it wasn't all that big. It just seemed like if we were there for a long period of time, we might lose interest in what's available there. Mm-hmm. You know, To, to some point. Or at some point you might see everything.

brit 27:19

Yeah.

josh 27:20

Is what I mean, which is probably true for most places. But this place. For sure was small enough, small family, very safe, wonderful place, but just not a ton going on.

brit 27:34

Yeah, no, that's fair. That is very fair to say. There were several times that we were walking that were like, why is it so quiet?

josh 27:42

Mm-hmm. Like, where are the people? We're in high tourist season.

brit 27:47

Yeah.

josh 27:48

No one's here.

brit 27:50

Which, I mean, kind of a plus. Oh,

josh 27:53

for sure.

brit 27:54

Also, the businesses closed so early. And many were not open, during weekdays, only on weekends they were open or vice versa.

josh 28:05

Limited hours. Yeah.

brit 28:07

Yeah, for sure. Yeah. There were some odd hours all throughout New Zealand, I think.

josh 28:12

Yeah.

brit 28:13

Some odd hours for we're Americans, so everything is open all the time everywhere.

josh 28:19

I was gonna say, everything opens up six, 7:00 AM and then closes at 10 at night no

brit 28:24

matter

josh 28:24

what day of the week. So,

brit 28:26

yeah. But I mean, also a good thing because I think that then people in Blenheim don't have to work 40 hour work weeks and they get better work life balance

josh 28:38

for sure. If we had a family, like with kids, or if someone has a family with kids, Blenheim would probably be awesome.

brit 28:48

Yeah. Oh, for sure.

josh 28:49

I'm not sure about the education there, what rankings it is, but it is, like I said, so quiet, so safe. Not a ton of people. Again, even in high tour season when we were there. There was hardly anyone there.

brit 29:04

Yeah.

josh 29:05

Which was an amazing stop for us after we just came from Queenstown, where there was a lot of people shoved into a small space. This had not many people.

brit 29:15

Yeah.

josh 29:16

And I mean, I loved it. And if we had kids, or if someone had kids, were in that situation, you were looking like, I just want a small town.

brit 29:26

Mm-hmm.

josh 29:26

That is safe. That is bright and sunny. It has got vineyards all over the place and mountains like. Blenheim them's your spot.

brit 29:33

Blenheim is your spot. Yeah, no, I mean, I got the feeling there.

josh 29:39

You did?

brit 29:39

Yeah. I totally did. Like looking back and looking at all these photos, I'm like, ugh.

josh 29:44

Like you got it full on.

brit 29:46

I got the feeling. Yeah.

josh 29:47

Oh wow.

brit 29:48

I got the feeling there. I still need to let it kind of digest to see if it's gonna creep into the top three.

josh 29:54

Right.

brit 29:54

But we're also about to go to Ireland. Mm. So I'm gonna wait until after Ireland also digests a little bit and my top three is probably gonna shift around.

josh 30:05

Right.

brit 30:06

So we will see. I don't know that anywhere is gonna beat Portree right now, but we'll see.

josh 30:12

That's true. We are getting lots of traction on a post on TikTok right now talking about Scotland and Ireland and those kinds of places, and. They just love'em. People, people love those places. They love that kind of scenery. So,

brit 30:28

well, I am also people, so

josh 30:33

I'm also people.

brit 30:36

I love those kinds of places too. So as far as coffee there mm-hmm. I will say I didn't have a, a really, really good cup. I will say that. CPR

josh 30:48

yeah,

brit 30:49

that was a good coffee. Um, it still was pretty milk forward which isn't my favorite cup of coffee.

josh 30:58

Yeah.

brit 30:58

I do get just a regular latte with oat milk. But it wasn't like super strong anywhere.

josh 31:05

Mm-hmm.

brit 31:05

So I think that's just how it is in New Zealand.

josh 31:08

Right.

brit 31:08

I should have gotten extra shots all throughout New Zealand, like now. I know. And if we go back. Scratch that when we go back.

josh 31:19

Mm-hmm.

brit 31:19

I will order extra shots and I'll deal with the jitters.

josh 31:22

Yeah. Uh, CPR was good. We had some good breakfasts there as well. One day. Uh, and then we also walked to, because you were still craving coffee. We went to Ritual

brit 31:33

Yeah.

josh 31:34

And got some coffee there. And you felt the same there. Kind of milk heavy.

brit 31:38

Yeah. Pretty milk heavy.

josh 31:40

Yeah.

brit 31:40

Mm-hmm.

josh 31:41

Yeah. Like you said, it wasn't bad, just not your style of coffee or lattes that you like.

brit 31:46

Not my style, but still really good. Like the espresso when you can taste it is good.

josh 31:52

I will say though, compared to Queenstown, where it was like grab and go coffee.

brit 31:58

Mm.

josh 31:58

These two places and the other places that we walked by. Were very sit down cafe style.

brit 32:04

Yeah.

josh 32:05

We went into each of'em and there were friends and families meeting up there talking. Uh, there were things to do. You were able to look out on the street and kind of people watch.

brit 32:15

Yeah.

josh 32:16

It

brit 32:16

was more sociability.

josh 32:18

Yeah. Yeah. Is

brit 32:19

that a word?

josh 32:20

Sociability.

brit 32:21

Social bit. So

josh 32:25

yes. One of those is a word.

brit 32:28

It was more sociable. Sure.

josh 32:34

It, It had a more social atmosphere.

brit 32:37

There you go. Yeah.

josh 32:40

which I love. I love that in a coffee shop. I love going there, having you get your latte. Me. Whatever I get and then us sitting there finding someone to talk to or people watching, having it be that kind of experience.

brit 32:54

Yeah, I love that too. I think overall for coffee, I would not rank it high.

josh 33:00

No,

brit 33:01

I would rank it pretty low, probably like a two.

josh 33:03

Oh really?

brit 33:04

Yeah.

josh 33:05

Lower than Queenstown.

brit 33:06

Yeah. Well, in Queenstown I did find two cups of coffee. That's right. That were, were pretty good.

josh 33:11

Sure. Yeah. I'd probably rank it, I'd probably rank it a little higher'cause I'm more on the social aspect and I don't care as much as the, about the strength of the coffee, I'd probably do a four. Okay. Yeah. Same for me. I didn't have like a fantastic cup of coffee. I look back, I'm like, that was really good. Not that my opinion matters on coffee,'cause I'll drink any sort of coffee, but. There wasn't anything that was that great.

brit 33:35

Yeah. Are there any other food spots that you wanna talk about?

josh 33:38

I mean, our last spot that we ate Gohan on Scott Ooh, or Gohan? on scott. Was a Japanese restaurant, like Seafood Fresh Fish again. Shocker. Uh, we had to wait a little bit, but it was a great small spot. Really good food.

brit 33:56

Yeah.

josh 33:57

Mm-hmm.

brit 33:58

Really delicious food.

josh 33:59

Yeah. We had, you weren't feeling the greatest, I think it was those two heavy back-to-back wine days.

brit 34:07

Yeah.

josh 34:07

And, and being tired.'cause we had, at this point we were go, go, go on the trip. So being tired and the back-to-back wine days probably hit you. So you had got some ramen. Which was amazing. Was delicious. There. I had ordered this kind of fresh salad with, Chicken,

brit 34:28

yeah.

josh 34:29

Uh, and that was good. And really fresh salad, good vegetables. We got a variety plate of sashimi and I believe it had red snapper salmon, and I can't remember the third one that's on there. But that was really delicious. Again, we did not have a bad, fresh fish, fresh seafood. Dish, I think on this trip.

brit 34:52

No, we had some really good seafood.

josh 34:55

Yeah.

brit 34:55

I actually wanna mention one more place.

josh 34:58

Mm-hmm.

brit 34:58

Public house.

josh 35:00

Oh yeah.

brit 35:01

Is where I had ordered the Thai curry salmon. Oh my gosh. I wanna make this You, you and my mom are not huge spicy fans or I, I don't think you both are. We don't

josh 35:17

go past medium spice.

brit 35:19

It wasn't that spicy.

josh 35:20

I was gonna say the, the US version of medium spice everywhere else, it's probably no spice.

brit 35:26

It was honestly so delicious. It was true. If you like Little Spice, if you like Thai food order that mm-hmm. So good. It comes with some like black sticky rice.

josh 35:36

Mm-hmm.

brit 35:37

So delicious. We also got bao buns there.

josh 35:41

Yeah.

brit 35:41

Those were incredible. And then

josh 35:44

I believe your mom ordered the risotto.

brit 35:46

Yes. And then you had ordered the steak because the waiter had said to order the steak.

josh 35:51

Yeah, I was all over the place that day.'cause this was after our wine tour, not the first taste, but the other one. And so I was up in arms and I was like, I don't know what to order today. And just asked. And he said the steak with vegetables,

brit 36:05

veles,

josh 36:06

veggie tails, the steak with vegetables was really good. And it was,

brit 36:13

it was, yeah. Mm-hmm. All of it was delicious. This was a meal that we were all kind of having a, a difficult conversation.

josh 36:20

Mm-hmm.

brit 36:21

Um, which you have to have, I think, when traveling.

josh 36:25

Yeah. I think in every travel experience or trip you and me have had. Mm-hmm. You, we just reach a point where. You know, we've gone through enough stressful experiences and no one responds perfectly.

brit 36:39

Yeah.

josh 36:39

In those. And so you just have to have a moment where like, you talk it out like, Hey, you know, I'm, I'm sorry I'm having a bad day. Or when this happened, you know, it kinda hurt me or offended me or, you know, I didn't like how you responded this way. Something like that. And especially when you got three people on a trip.

brit 36:58

Yeah. It makes it more challenging

josh 37:00

Yeah.

brit 37:01

To have those conversations. But I think after this one we were more open to have those conversations with each other. So

josh 37:08

Yeah.

brit 37:09

Yeah, I think you have to have those when traveling.

josh 37:11

Right.

brit 37:12

Because you can't, you're there for two weeks, you can't fake it and you can't. Stuff it down

josh 37:19

especially on trips and even more so in every day to day life.

brit 37:23

Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's why you and I, work so well together.'cause we do have those difficult conversations and we talk about the hard things. We don't, stuff it down. If you say something that hurt me.

josh 37:36

Mm-hmm.

brit 37:36

I'm gonna tell you.

josh 37:37

I appreciate that about you.

brit 37:39

Yeah.

josh 37:39

I love you.

brit 37:40

I love you. I hope you do the same for me.

josh 37:43

I do, absolutely.

brit 37:45

Okay.

josh 37:45

Wide open, open book. I will also say about this dinner we had this chocolate cake.

brit 37:52

Oh, that was so delicious.

josh 37:57

So good.

brit 37:58

No, that was really good. I do remember that. Mm-hmm.

josh 38:01

This whole dinner at public house was really good. We did immediately after realize we made a mistake. Usually we go one heavy, one light, if it's just the two of us. Yeah. We got like one kind of normal dinner fair and one that's lighter, kind of like a salad and fish. So we kind of balance each other out when it's just us two and we were doing that pretty well with the three of us. But this one. We just, the three of us went heavy meals.

brit 38:32

Yeah. I think we were going comfort.

josh 38:34

Yeah. With the conversation that was going on. We were like, we need comfort food. And then throw on dense chocolate.

brit 38:43

I mean, you can never go wrong with chocolate, but we should have ordered a different lighter dish.

josh 38:49

Well, for a main dish. I mean, the chocolate was delicious. No, yeah.

brit 38:52

No we wouldn't change up the chocolate.

josh 38:54

No.

brit 38:54

So as far as food in Blenheim

josh 38:57

mm-hmm.

brit 38:57

What would you rank it?

josh 38:58

You know, I am going to give this, are we counting Saku in it?

brit 39:03

Yeah.

josh 39:04

And it's gonna be seven Yep.

brit 39:05

Yeah. Saku really did make this trip. I, I also think that it's probably my top meal

josh 39:12

Yeah.

brit 39:12

As well.

josh 39:12

If we pull Saku out of Blenheim, I'm probably like a five and a half.

brit 39:17

Really?

josh 39:18

Yep. Yep. But it's, it was a fantastic meal the, landscape, the whole like theme, the vibes of it, like everything was amazing.

brit 39:29

Yeah.

josh 39:29

Was absolutely amazing. And we really didn't have, bad food at the other places and it wasn't. Underwhelming.

brit 39:37

it was all really good. Yeah,

josh 39:38

it was good food. It was like small town, good places.

brit 39:43

Yeah.

josh 39:44

Whereas Queenstown, you were more like tour driven, like lots of people, we gotta get these dishes out. And it was kind of like, no offense, it kind of mediocre kind of average food. Like this was just like a slight step up above that. Yeah.

brit 39:58

I think it was a pretty big step above that. Mm-hmm.

josh 40:00

Yeah. What would you give it?

brit 40:02

I think you talked me into a seven.

josh 40:04

A seven. What were you gonna give it?

brit 40:06

I don't know. Maybe a six.

josh 40:07

Yeah.

brit 40:08

Just'cause I don't wanna go so high right away, but. It was really good.

josh 40:12

We could, you could give it like a, 6.8 or something. You can give points in there

brit 40:17

and I'll give it a seven.

josh 40:19

I, I really think Saku changes the game of the place. It really does.

brit 40:26

It does. And I also think Public House had really good food. Mm-hmm. I appreciated the food there and

josh 40:33

Repou that we mentioned. They had really good food.

brit 40:36

They had amazing food. Yeah. There were salmon dishes like all over. And I love a good salmon. Can't hear me say that enough.

josh 40:45

Gohan and Scott was good. Yeah. Seven feels good to me.

brit 40:48

Yeah, I agree.

josh 40:49

And one thing about this, and we had kind of mentioned like we were able to walk through the park. We walked our first night along the river to Repou. It was extremely walkable again,

brit 41:02

so walkable

josh 41:04

for a very small spread out area. It wasn't that much of a walk between places. The town had very little undulation, like it was fairly flat.

brit 41:15

Mm-hmm.

josh 41:16

Very walkable. There wasn't any public transportation to speak of that we saw, I'm sure there's buses and some stuff, you can get a taxi, but it wasn't like there were trains and trams all over the places that you could get anywhere, but very walkable.

brit 41:30

No, extremely walkable. I do wish that they did have like a tram going out to like vineyards and stuff like that. Mm-hmm. And maybe like there was a big Kmart and a wholesale store that kind of looked like a Costco that I wanted to go in, but that was a little bit out of town that we didn't go to.

josh 41:47

Yeah.

brit 41:48

So I wish that there were more public transportation options.

josh 41:53

Yeah.

brit 41:54

But with it being as small as it is

josh 41:58

mm-hmm.

brit 41:58

It makes sense.

josh 41:59

Yeah. I think I would give it, it hits on walkability, but nothing on public transport, so I'm gonna have to give it like a four and a half.

brit 42:09

Yeah. I'll give it a five because walkability was so good. But transportation was nothing

josh 42:15

and it should be noted again, the safety aspect of it. Mm-hmm. You, you felt safe. We walked a bunch of different places downtown, around there, and never felt uneasy through any of it.

brit 42:28

No. Yeah. I would've walked alone.

josh 42:29

Yeah. I mean, you can't, you can't walk out to the vineyards.

brit 42:32

No. That's where the problem is for me.

josh 42:35

Right. If, If there was like a tram going to each one just constantly around, that would, that'd probably hit,

brit 42:43

we would've done that.

josh 42:44

Oh, for sure.

brit 42:46

Yeah.

josh 42:46

we're just kind of getting into this travel livability scorecard that we're trying to do by ranking places. I think as far as affordability, a it definitely more affordable than Queenstown was.

brit 42:59

Yes.

josh 43:00

As far as the US dollar it definitely translated to more affordable. So I'll give that probably a six or seven.

brit 43:08

Yeah, I mean I didn't really,

josh 43:10

you can say it.

brit 43:11

I didn't really look at prices that much here'cause I was so, I don't know. I feel like I was kind of in my head at this stop.

josh 43:19

Yeah.

brit 43:20

So I wasn't really looking at prices as much. Plus you take care of that.

josh 43:24

I usually do.

brit 43:25

So, um,

josh 43:26

share a credit card account. One of us uses a card. We both use it in the card.

brit 43:30

Yeah. So I'll give it the same as you. 6, 7, 6, 7,

josh 43:35

6, 7.

brit 43:37

We're cool kids.

josh 43:38

No, we're not. As far as pace and wellness, this is another one that you kind of leaned into a little bit before talking about. Kind of the shorten hours in a day for people.

brit 43:48

Yeah, definitely. Shorter hours seems like a good work-life balance, especially in like shops and stores and stuff. With vineyards, I think that there's a lot of really hard work that people do, but even on the tours, I, I don't believe they said that they work eight hours a day. I don't think they do. And Cloudy Bay closed at what, four? So

josh 44:14

five o'clock? Yeah,

brit 44:15

five. So closed early. In terms of, having long work days, it didn't seem like it would be a long work day for many people.

josh 44:24

Yeah. I don't think Cloudy Bay opened up for the public until 10 o'clock.

brit 44:29

Yeah.

josh 44:30

10 or 11 o'clock. So it was definitely compared to what we're used to around here in the United States, definitely a shorter day

brit 44:36

for sure. Yeah. So I would say the pace and what seemed to be a good work-life balance would be pretty high. Like a seven, eight.

josh 44:48

Yep. Yeah, that's exactly what I was gonna say. A seven or an eight, seven and a half. I would say we're just not educated on it enough to give it a higher one, I think.

brit 44:56

Yeah.

josh 44:57

So.

brit 44:57

I mean, a higher or a lower one.

josh 44:59

Right?

brit 45:00

Yeah. We don't know, but I think these are things that we would look deeper into if we were truly considering moving to Blenheim. this is just what we saw our in-person research.

josh 45:12

Yeah. So, yeah. And that's something that people on social media and commenting on the podcast have said about, uh, New Zealand and other places. They have been letting us know like, Hey, you know, if you're thinking about coming here, look at this visa, or it's pretty difficult to get this visa, or it's pretty difficult to come here, move here, because of the housing crisis that we're having here. And so it's actually really nice for people who are listening if. We're talking about place and you wanna give us that information, you can send it in a message, leave a comment on the podcast.

brit 45:47

Mm-hmm.

josh 45:47

You know, just so we know.'cause then we can post it on here and maybe someone else listens to it and then we know as well.

brit 45:54

Yeah.

josh 45:54

And one comment that we forgot to make sure that we put out there, I think we mentioned it a little bit for Queenstown, was someone corrected us on something for New Zealand, was that it is not the first place to experience New Year's? Yes, it is. It is one of the first places, not the first.

brit 46:16

Yes.

josh 46:17

So we just misspoke. We did know that, but

brit 46:19

I misspoke. Thank you for correcting us. Mm-hmm. We, we honestly really do appreciate those comments and people letting us know things because, we don't always know.

josh 46:29

Mm-hmm.

brit 46:30

So

josh 46:31

yeah.

brit 46:31

We appreciate that.

josh 46:32

Mm-hmm. So thank you listeners. Yes.

brit 46:36

Anything else that you want to talk about with Blenheim?

josh 46:40

I really loved it. Like I said, I got the feeling there a little bit. You definitely got the feeling there. You said it's a home for many people and it's definitely a home for someone with a family. I think like, I think that's kind of the place it could be tailored for. Definitely not like Queenstown where it's a lot of adventure, a lot of intense sports and

brit 47:06

yeah.

josh 47:07

Stuff like that going on. But there were schools, parks. Golf course, you got access to the ocean. The water, you got the wineries there, the mountains, plenty places to walk and very calm. It's,

brit 47:24

yeah, it's a really calm and beautiful place and I could definitely see if you have a family that it could be a place to go.

josh 47:35

Yeah.

brit 47:36

Yeah. And who knows? I, I don't know about all of the visa opportunities. We talked last episode about the work visas

josh 47:46

mm-hmm.

brit 47:47

That people do. Mm-hmm. Between the age of 18 and 35. All throughout the world really.

josh 47:52

Mm-hmm.

brit 47:53

But it did seem like there were a lot of people that had immigrated to New Zealand. So

josh 48:01

plenty. Yeah.

brit 48:02

It. It's not impossible.

josh 48:04

No, definitely not. Um,

brit 48:05

definitely seemed like a place where it could be an easier route than some other countries.

josh 48:11

Mm-hmm.

brit 48:11

So if this is something that you're considering, maybe, maybe think about Blenheim.

josh 48:16

Yeah. Yeah. I definitely wanna, I just saw this because I, I said it, I was like, it's calm, it's beautiful. Lots of scenery. What is the difference between blenheim and Portree?

brit 48:30

That's a great question.

josh 48:31

Yeah, I know.

brit 48:32

I saw so much community In Portree.

josh 48:37

Mm-hmm.

brit 48:38

And maybe we weren't in blenheim enough Or long enough to see that.

josh 48:42

Mm-hmm.

brit 48:43

Uh, I didn't see that as much as I saw in Portree. And everyone's houses in Portree they weren't right next to each other. They had a lot of space.

josh 48:53

Mm-hmm.

brit 48:54

And kind of like in the mountains a little bit it felt like. Or in the rolling hills of Scotland. A little bit. So it was much different than, uh, the flat land of Blenheim.

josh 49:07

Mm-hmm.

brit 49:08

With the mountains around. Yeah. You're like in the mountains, in Portree

josh 49:12

Right.

brit 49:13

And Portree, just, I don't know. It gave me so much of that feeling like

josh 49:20

mm-hmm.

brit 49:20

It was a place where we went where it was the first time I felt like, wow, we should move here. Mm-hmm. We really should move here. Like, how do we get the paperwork? Yeah. Like I was, I was ready.

josh 49:34

Yeah.

brit 49:35

And still to this day, if you asked me to move to portree, I would say yes.

josh 49:39

Yeah.

brit 49:39

Like, no doubt about it.

josh 49:42

Yeah. It was, it was magical.

brit 49:44

It was magical. It was, I, I can't describe it very well because it just, it was more of a feeling for me. It was mm-hmm.

josh 49:53

I, I would say in Blenheim it didn't quite feel magical.

brit 49:58

Yeah.

josh 49:59

It felt lovely. It felt amazing, but it wasn't, it wasn't our vibes.

brit 50:05

Yeah. I'm, I would say that we gravitate towards the gloomy, mysterious rolling hills of Scotland, right? Mm-hmm. Or even what I imagine Ireland to be like. And this was the complete opposite of that. It was hot. It. It was too hot for my liking some days, I think it was opposite and similar because Blenheim, I mean, it's so beautiful and there is some magic I think there.

josh 50:39

Mm-hmm.

brit 50:40

There's some magic to be felt there. Mm-hmm. Especially in the vineyard.

josh 50:44

Oh yeah.

brit 50:45

That was magical for me. Uh, but we can't live in a vineyard

josh 50:48

as much as we want,

brit 50:52

Whereas Portree was magical all throughout Portree. I felt it and I was like, I could spend the rest of my life here. Yeah. I didn't feel that in Blenheim. I did feel like I could live here. And when I say I get the feeling, that could be, the feeling of living there for a couple months or a year or whatever. Like I could, I could live there

josh 51:13

Yeah.

brit 51:14

For some time.

josh 51:15

Mm-hmm.

brit 51:15

I don't see myself there forever, like I see in Portree.

josh 51:19

Sure. Yeah. That makes sense.

brit 51:21

Yeah.

josh 51:21

I had just saw of that when you were speaking and I was saying those things. I was like, what is the difference between those? And it's, it's a difference. It is.

brit 51:30

Well, do you, do you feel that difference?

josh 51:33

Oh yeah.

brit 51:33

What's your number one right now?

josh 51:35

Oh, I think it's Belgium. Yep.

brit 51:36

Yours is Ghent. What's the difference for you with your number one being Ghent Belgium and Blenheim?

josh 51:44

I don't think we could ever get bored in Belgium.

brit 51:50

Mm-hmm.

josh 51:50

And. Especially with the access to public transportation that is in Ghent, which we have talked about, is probably the gold standard for like walkability and public transport in places that we've been to so far.

brit 52:06

Yeah.

josh 52:07

So then having access to go to other places would be so easy and convenient. So I think that's the biggest difference.

brit 52:15

That's true.

josh 52:16

Like there's less of an immediate access to nature for sure. But you can,

brit 52:23

yeah. I really hope that people who are considering. Maybe moving outside of the us listen to our pod, because I feel like we have been to a lot of places where people maybe haven't considered. And with the state of the US right now, I know a lot of people are considering moving.

josh 52:44

Mm-hmm.

brit 52:45

And so I think that they could get a lot of good information from this pod.

josh 52:48

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, instead of your just knee jerk reactions for people right now, I think you could look up where should I move? And it would be Canada, it would be Portugal, it would probably be Scotland. You know, I think those are like hot button places.

brit 53:08

Mm-hmm.

josh 53:08

That lots of Americans have moved to for good reason. They're good places to move to.

brit 53:14

Yeah.

josh 53:15

But there are. Tons of places out there. Not all easily accessible or easily able for you to move to. For sure. That's not something that we have dug into on a bunch of these. Like you said, if we were more closing in on places and a date when we would wanna move, we would start doing that more with this podcast, but yeah.

brit 53:38

Oh, for sure.

josh 53:39

And like, oh, like Italy too. I feel like people are like, oh, I could move to Italy. I could live in Italy.

brit 53:44

Maybe not. Everybody knows about the political factors of Italy.

josh 53:49

Yeah.

brit 53:49

Because if it weren't for that, we would probably have Italy in our top three. Mm-hmm. One of us.

josh 53:54

Yeah. It's, and it's hard too, when it's a, when it's a law versus like a feeling. Like mm-hmm. When you go to Italy in some places, you really don't get that vibe. You really don't get those feelings that it's, yeah. That those laws aren't place. But then when you look into'em, you're like, oh, they have these laws, or they have these tendencies, then it kind of turns you off of a place.

brit 54:18

Mm-hmm.

josh 54:18

So, and we might miss that. Some of the, the places that we've been to or that we like, we might miss that. I haven't dug into, or we haven't talked about it or researched it. If that is the case in Belgium.

brit 54:30

Yeah.

josh 54:30

And there might be something that we're missing.

brit 54:32

Yeah. In some of these places. Definitely let us know if you know of some things. So right now our top three mine is Portree Scotland, Ghent Belgium, and Stockholm, Sweden. And yours is Ghent Belgium, Portree Scotland, and Toronto, Canada.

josh 54:49

Mm-hmm.

brit 54:49

We really, we, if we decided to move right now, we would have a fight for Scotland or Belgium. Mm-hmm. Scotland would win.

josh 54:58

Mm-hmm. We'll see.

brit 55:01

I'm just kidding.

josh 55:03

I know. Anything else that you wanna mention or you wanna talk about in this episode about Blenheim or Wellington or New Zealand in general?

brit 55:11

Not really. I, I really loved it here and I think it was just a really beautiful, like down to earth place really was. And the people you could tell were also very down to earth.

josh 55:28

Yeah.

brit 55:29

So I appreciated that. What about you?

josh 55:32

Nope, I think I've said what I've said and I'm ready for the next one.

brit 55:37

Okay. So next episode, we will be talking about Rotorua, and not just the sulfur smell in Rotorua But we did have a really great time here, so I'm looking forward to talking about it.

josh 55:50

Yeah, it should be a good episode. We only spent two full days there and it was pretty jam packed full of activities. If you're looking at going to Rotorua and maybe partaking in some activities, be a great episode to listen to regardless, uh, it'll be fun to talk about

brit 56:07

for sure. Don't forget to follow, like, and subscribe on all of our socials on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. You can also catch full episodes on YouTube with pictures and videos that we add into the episode.

josh 56:23

Also, don't forget to keep leaving comments and sending us messages on places you want us to visit or information stuff that we say wrong or information we get wrong. We really appreciate it. Again, we want to be as correct as possible and also just get any ideas of places you want us to travel to.

brit 56:42

Thank you so much for listening. Until next time,